Reading Optimally Builds on Spoken Language: Implications for Deaf Readers

Abstract

Reading is not merely "language by eye." Rather, it builds fundamentally on primary language processes. For hearing readers, this means that spoken language processes, including phonological processes, are critical to high achievement in reading. We examine the implications of this fact for deaf readers by considering the relationship between language and reading and by reviewing the research on the use of phonology by deaf readers. The research, although mixed in its results, suggests that the use of phonology is associated with higher levels of reading skill among deaf readers. We examine related questions, including the additional semantic and visual strategies available to deaf readers, how some deaf readers gain access to the spoken structure of language, and implications for how to improve reading achievement.

Phonological and orthographic coding in deaf skilled readers

“…Importantly, for deaf skilled readers error percentages were similar for pseudohomophones and control nonwords, suggesting that they did not activate phonological codes. Since our sample of deaf readers showed proficient reading scores but no evidence of phonological encoding, these results cast doubt on the hypothesis that deaf individuals need to access phonology in reading tasks to be competent readers (Perfetti & Sandak, 2000).…”

“…However, most deaf people never achieve a good reading level and lag behind their hearing peers (Conrad, 1979;Taxler, 2000). Various authors have suggested that reduced access to speech phonology is the main underlying cause of their reading difficulties and the high percentage of deaf people who make a great effort to learn to read (Hanson & Fowler, 1987;Perfetti & Sandak, 2000). Even so, it is unclear whether, for example, explicit training of phonological awareness helps deaf individuals to achieve high reading proficiency (Campbell & Wright, 1988;Izzo, 2002;Nielsen & Luetke-Stahlman, 2002).…”

“…Many studies have highlighted the importance of phonological coding and awareness for reading skills in deaf individuals (Hanson & Fowler, 1987;Perfetti & Sandak, 2000). The majority of studies that investigate the role of phonology in the deaf population do so through meta-phonological tasks and phonological awareness, which require explicit phonological judgments (Aparicio, Gounot, Demont, & Metz-Lutz, 2007;Campbell & Wright, 1988;Dyer, MacSweeney, Szczerbinski, Green, & Campbell, 2003;Transler, Leybaert, & Gombert, 1999;Waters & Doehring, 1990).…”

Research Methods in Studying Reading and Literacy Development in Deaf Children Who Sign

“…It is reasonable to assume that deaf children who use speech learn to read in essentially the same way as hearing children, i.e. through the use of a phonological code (see Perfetti & Sandak, 2000). However, it is possible that signing deaf children may also learn to read in broadly the same manner because research suggests that similar skills are important for their reading development.…”

The Challenge of Learning to Read Written English for the Profoundly Pre-lingually Deaf Adult

“…This result is surprising, as wellspecified phonological representations have been considered important for reading development as they underlie phonological awareness skill, which is assumed to be a metalinguistic skill underpinning phonological recoding and reading development (Snowling & Hulme 2012). This set of skills is considered by many to be vital even for a prelingually profoundly deaf reader (see Perfetti & Sandak 2000). Without them the underlying representations of words are poorly specified and their lexical structures are not segmentally organised and available at the syllabic, onset-rime or phonemic level (Swan & Goswami 1997).…”